Tobacco-looper



F. M. CO-MSTOCK.

TOBACCO LOOPER.

APPLICATION FILED AuG.6. 1919.

' Patented Apr. 26, 1921.

4 SHEETS-Britti' l.

mm. N \k F. M. COMSTOCK.

TOBACCO LOOPER.

APPLICATION FILED Aues. 1919.

1,376,3 1 8. Patented Apr. 26, 1921.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2- gwuantofc 17,7% f/zfm F.A M. COMSTOCK.

TOBACCO LOOPER.

APPLICATION FILED Aue.6. 1919.

1,376,318', Patented Apr. 26,1921.

' 4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

@j l nvuntoz" @www ZZM 70mm I rl UNITED STATES PATENT oPFICE.

FRANCIS COLISTOCK, OF NEWBERN, NORTH CAROLINA, ASSIGNOR TO WILLIAM S.

HOWELL AND C. D. BRADHAM, 0F NEWBERN, NORTH CAROLINA.

TOBACCO-LOOPER.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 26, 1921.

Application led August 6, 1919. Serial No. 315,724.

T 0 alb whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I FRANCIS M. CoM- srocii, a citizen of the nitedStates, residing at Newbern, in the county of Craven and State of NorthCarolina, have invented a new and useful Tobacco-Looper, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements 1n loop forming machines, andmore particularly to machines employed for automatically forming cord orwire loops around tobacco leaves, adjacent the tobacco sticks, forsecuring the leaves to the sticks forming the temporary support for theleaves, before the same are placed in the curing houses.

A further object of the invention 1s to provide a loop forming machineof this character which will automatically form a loop at the oppositesides of the tobacco stick for temporarily securing the leaves to thestick. A

A still further object of the invention 1s to provide means forautomatically feeding the stick through the machine and intermittentlystopping the stick at predetermined points so that thesame will be moveddirectly under the looping arm.

71th the foregoing and other Objects in view which will appear as thedescription proceeds, the invention resides in the combination andarrangement of parts and 1n the details of construction hereinafterdescribed and claimed, it being understood that changes in the preciseembodiment of the invention herein disclosed, may be made within thescope of what is claimed Without de arting from the spirit of theinvention.

eferiing now to the drawings Figure 1 illustrates a side elevationalview of a machine constructed in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 illustrates a longitudinally sectional view taken on line 2 2 ofFig. 1.

Fig. 3 illustrates a top plan view of the same.

Fig. et illustrates a diagrammatical view of the grooves of the camdrum.

Fig. 5 illustrates a detail view of the finger and roller associatedwith the cam drum.

Fig. 6 illustrates a top plan view of the swinging arm, the cam drumbeing shown in sections.

Fig. 7 is a side elevational view of the same.

Fig. 8 is a detail view of the feeding jaws, partly in section.

Fig. 9 is an end elevational view of the same, and;

Fig. 10 is a top plan view of a tobacco stick showing the manner in1which the loops are formed.

Referring now to the drawings in detail reference character 5 designatesa bracket having openings 6 providing means for the reception of thesecuring bolts 7 which secure the bracket to a suitable support 8.

The bracket 5 includes an upwardly extending arm having a. right angleportion 9 integrally formed therewith, said right angle portion alsohaving tending arm 10 provided with apertures 11 and the substantiallyflat face l2.

A bracket 13 has its right angled end 14 Secuied to the rear of the arm10, as by bolt 15 passing through a suitable opening formed in the end14, and arm 10. The bracket 13, extends rearwardly and provides asupport for the swinging arm 16, which arm has its rear end 17 pivotallyconnected to the bracket by means of pivot pin 18 secured to thebracket, the front end 18 there- .of rests on the guide bar 19, andformsa support for the hollow depending bearing 20, to be hereinafter morefully described.

A lever 21 has one of its ends pivotally connected to the swinging arm16, the 0pposite end thereof being formed into an elongated head 22having suitable rack teeth 22', which teeth mesh with the teeth of thepinion 23, keyed or otherwise secured to the upper endnof the loopinglinger shaft 24, on one end of which is carried the looping finger 25,which as shown is provided with a central longitudinal opening 26 toreceive the looping thread, wire or the like. As shown, this lever 21 isalso provided with a central roller 21 adapted to operate in the camgrooves of the cam drum 32, to be more fully described.

Rigidly secured to the arm 10 adjacent the upper end thereof, is a frame27 having bearings 28 in which operates the cran shaft 29, which in turnis provided with a longitudinal groove 30 to receive the key 31 carriedby the cam drum 32 so that the cam drum 32 is capable of a rotarymovement an upwardly ex- 32, causes a relative swinging movement of Athe swinging arm 16.

As shown the cam drum 32 is provided with circumferential grooves 33 Ywhich grooves intersect each other as at 34, and provide cam grooves toreceive the roller 2l on one side thereof, and the roller 35 on theopposite side thereof, the latter being mounted on one end of thebracket 36, which in turn is rigidly mounted on the frame 27, the roller35 having a ported in front thereo so' that the roller will be properlyguided in the cam roove.

From the foregoing it is obvious t at the arm 16 is moved alternatelyfrom one side of the machine to the other, thereby moving the loopingfinger transversely of the machine, while the rack teeth of theelongated head 22 impart rotary movement thereto, for forming-the loops.

Supported on one end of the frame 27 1s a bracket 38, which bracketsupports the cord or wire cage -39, said cage -having a depending curvedfinger 40,.apertured as at 41 to recelve the cord or lwire 42 employed1n forming the loops. It follows that when the machine is threaded, thecord 42 1s passed around the finger 40, to prevent racing of the cordduring the operatlon of the machine, the cord 42 is then passed throughthel aperture 41 from where it passes 'through the shaft and to thelooping fi r 26.

he arm 43, secured to the arm 10, has its outer end extendi horizontallyand terminating at a point low the cam drum 32,' and provides -a bearingfor the shaft 44 which has connection with'the lower end of the arm 45,the upper end of said arm 45 being slotted as at 46 to receive the crankpin 47 carried by the eccentric 48 mounted on one end of the shaft 29.

Connected to the shaft 44, and secured thereto, is a rocking forkedlever 49, the arms 50 thereof being constructed to straddle4 the trough51, which .extends lfrom a point substantially flush with the forwardportion of the bracket 5, rearwardly and terminates a suitable distanceto the rear thereof.

A slide plate 52, is mounted on the support 8, and provides a surface onwhich operates the metallic box 53, which is apertured at its oppositesides, and prov1ded with apertured ears 54 forming bearings for thepivoted levers 55, which have their inner ends connected to the jaws 56,said jaws being rovided with teeth 57 adapted to enga e the tobaccostick 58 used in connection wit this machine, for advancing the stickguide finger 37 supin the'trough 51, also mounted on the support, stepbyi step, a predetermined distance. Itv will therefore be seen that dueto this construction, loops are formed along the tobacco' stick, onopposite sides thereo and in spaced relation with each other.

The operation of the deviceis as follows:

A tobacco stick is fpositioned in the trough 59, with the forwar endthereof in a position directly under the looping finger 26, the cord orwire 42 used in forming the loops, hasone of its ends positioned aroundthe fastening element 60, whereby the end of the cord 42 is securelyfastened to the end of the stick.

The shaft 29 is then given a rotary movement, due to its connection witha suitable power mechanism, not shown, with the result that the swingingarm 16 is moved laterally, carrying with 1t arm 2l, which arm, due toits connection vwith the cam drum is also moved transversely of the arm16.

It follows that due to the connection between the arm 21 and the loopingfinger shaft 24, the looping finger 25 is given a rotary movement arounda bunch of tobacco leaves sup orted adjacent one side of the stick.

pon the continuous rotation of said shaft 29, the gripping jaws 56 gripthe tobacco stick, moving the same forward a predetermined distance. Thearm 16, is thenmoved transversely of the machine in the oppositedirection, and the operation is repeated on the opposite`side of thestick, which operation continues until the stick has been filled,whereupon it is removed and another tobacco stick is positioned in thetrough.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. In a loop formingmachine, a main bracket, an auxiliary bracket carried by the mainbracket, a loop forming finger supported by the auxiliary bracket, meansfor moving the loop forming finger laterally of the machine, and meansfor simultaneously rotating the same.

2. In a loop forming machine, a main bracket, an auxiliary bracketsupported by the main bracket, a swinging arm havin connection with theauxiliary bracket an having a bearing forming a art thereof, a loopforming finger rotatab y sup orted within the bearing, and means incluing a cam drum for moving the loop forming finger transversely of themachine, and simultaneously rotating the same.

3. In a loop' forming machine, a main bracket and an auxiliary bracket,a swinging arm pivotally supported by the auxiliary bracket, a pivotedarm connected to the swinging arm, a loop formin finger shaft, and alooping linger carried '(Iy said shaft, means for moving the swingingarm laterally of the machine, means for imparting rotary movement to theloop forming fin er shaft, and means for automatically fee ing a tobaccostick to the looping fin er.

4. In a loop forming mac ine, a main bracket and an auxiliary bracket, aswing"- ing arm, an arm pivotally connected to the swinging arm, a camdrum, means for connecting the cam drum to the swinging arm to move thearm laterally, means for connecting the cam drum and pivoted arm toswing the pivoted arm laterally, a loop forming finger, means forconnecting the loop forming finger and pivoted arm for rotating saidloop forming finger, and means for feeding a tobacco stick to the loopforming finger.

5. In a loop forming machine, a main bracket and an auxiliary bracket, aswinging arm having connection with the auxiliary bracket, a loopingfinger rotatably supported by the swlnging arm, means for moving thelooping finger laterally of the ma chine and means for simultaneouslrotating the looping finger, means for fee ing a tobacco stick throughthe machine, said means including pivoted jaws, and means for moving thejaws to automatically grasp and release a tobacco stick at predeterminedintervals.

6. In a loop forming machine, a main bracket, an auxiliary bracket onthe main bracket, a shaft journaled on the main bracket, a cam drumsplined on the shaft,

a Swingin arm having connection with the drum, a ooping finger, meanscarried by the swinging arm for operating the looping finger, and meansfor permitting rotary movement of the cam drum with the shaft, and meansfor moving the cam drum longitudinally of the shaft.

7. In a loop forming machine, a main bracket, an auxiliary bracket, arotary shaft supported on the main bracket, a cam drum having camgrooves, splined on the rotary shaft, a swinging arm supported under thecam drum, means coperating with the grooves of the cam drum for movingthe cam drum longitudinally of the shaft, means connecting the camdrum'and swinging arm to produce a relative movement of the arm withrelation to the cam drum, an arm supported on the swinging arm, alooping finger, means on the second mentioned arm and engaging the camgrooves for moving the second mentioned arm laterally, and means forconnecting the second mentioned arm and looping finger, whereby movementof the second mentioned arm produces a relative movement of the loopingfinger.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixedmy signature in the resence of two witnesses.

RANCIS M. COMSTOCK.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM S. HOWELL,

N. W. JONES.

